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The Afternoon Magazine

The state of Illinois is about to make giant reems of data available for the public. But data is borderline useless without some kind of mediation. Dan O'Neill and Brant Houston are hosting the first data hack-a-thon at UofI today - offering programmers a cash prize to the best algorithm.

Last week, Illinois' bond rating was reduced again by several credit agencies, making it the lowest rated state in the union. What can be done about the state's pension issue? State Treasurer Dan Rutherford and economics professor Jefferey Brown of the University of Illinois talk us through it.

Tonight, PBS is airing a documentary about the war over textbook content in Texas. Two years ago, radio documentarian Trey Kay made a one hour special on the first major textbook fight, which took place in West Virginia in the 1960s. The fight back then was more than political - books were burned, schools boycotted, and one protestor was shot through the heart. Kay joined us to discuss what many see as the start of the American culture war.

From time to time, Illinois Public Media organizes or participates in other organizations’ “community conversations.” They’re opportunities to discuss a wide range of issues and ideas, to hear what various communities care about, and – ideally, for those of us in the news business – to inform the stories we ought to tell, and the way we ought to tell them. Such was the case Thursday. Illinois Public Media's Jim Meadows and Sean Powers join us to discuss what they learned from conversations with attendees of an event through Champaign Unit 4 schools.